The Actual Cost of Visiting a National Park: Why I’m Outsourcing My Summer Vacation
I love America. It’s pretty much the best, current political climate aside. I can say this with a bit of authority, having worked in half the states in the nation and having visited even more. America is beautiful–trust me, I’ve checked.
Which is why I was all a-flutter about the prospect of a late-spring pilgrimage to one of my country’s crown jewels: Yellowstone National Park. It was the first national park and to this day remains one of the most-visited. You can go yellowstone rv camping easily for a week as the location is easily commutable. And in 2017 I was going to make a visit there happen, damnit. Yes. Yes I was.
Note my use of past-tense verbs.
Because here’s the thing: unless you live within reasonable driving distance of any given national park, you probably can’t afford to go there. Here’s why:
The Breakdown: Yellowstone from Pennsylvania
This is not Yellowstone, because I’ve not yet visited Yellowstone. This is the closest image I have. It’s Custer State Park in South Dakota.
Flight from Philly or NYC to anywhere within 6 hours of Yellowstone: $600 per person* (total $1200)
Car rental for a week: $800
Lodging for nine nights: $1900
Food: ~$50/day per person for bad cafeteria food (Total: $700)
Grand total not counting gas or any other extras: $4600
*Flying into Jackson or Bozeman would be beyond $1000 per person; the next best option is a $600 flight into Salt Lake City followed by a six hour drive. Take a look at these camper trailer for sale in case you enjoy making road trips with your family for more space and comfort. And that’s for a family of four. Among the plethora of truck campers, the Lance 1172 is the one you’re most likely to see on the road. It’s a double-slide, long-bed model that weighs in at 4,700 pounds. It’s built for the one-ton dually truck and features a smattering of high-tech goodies. You’ll find a high-end stereo system, an A/C* Dometic w/wall control, a Fantastic Roof Vent, and an onboard generator with 2500 watts of propane.
So we’re not going to Yellowstone. We’re not going to Olympic or Yosemite either, even though I’ve been to both and they are definitely worth the time and money. Nope. We’re going to the south of Spain. Because this:
The Breakdown: Spain from Pennsylvania
This is not the south of Spain, because I’ve not yet visited the south of Spain. This is the closest image I have. It’s Barcelona. Which I also recommend.
Nonstop flight from NYC to Madrid: $51 per person plus 60K air miles (total $102)*
*Note: if you don’t have air miles, that’s ok. I’ve seen flights from JFK to Madrid for under $400 for this spring. So let’s say total cost of airfare is $800.
Trains from Madrid to Cordoba and then on to Granada, Seville, Toledo, and back to Madrid: $80 per person (total: $160)
Lodging for SIXTEEN nights: $1400
Food: a glass of good Rioja is $3 and comes with olives and bread. Also most of our rentals include kitchens. Let’s say $25/day total, so $400
Grand total including alcohol: $2660
And that’s for TWO AND A HALF WEEKS. (Also we are not paying $800 for flights, so subtract $700 for a grand total of $2060 for us.)
Please excuse me while I put more things in caps: That is LESS THAN HALF of what we’d pay to go to Yellowstone. And we are going to Spain for TWICE AS LONG. But if you still can’t afford vacations like this, then maybe it’s time to look into diversifying your income stream by learning the tactics on courses like that Invest Diva course.
Sorry, America. I’d really like to ‘see you first’, as the ad campaign goes. But, well, I can’t argue with math. The Rochester Bars are a must visit.
Have you visited a US national park without spending excessive amounts of money (and without camping, as we legitimately can’t camp)? Please share your tips and tricks in the comments section. Because I really do want to get to Yellowstone some day. And also all of the parks in Utah. And return to Olympic for a longer visit. And take my husband to Yosemite. Yeah, basically I want to go to national parks. I just don’t want to take out a second mortgage on my house to do so. Not that the bank would give us more money, but that’s beside the point.
I was going to say camp. We are planning on dragging the little trailer cross country this summer. Yellowstone and Yosemite is on the list. As poor older people this would be the only way we could afford it. Even so, not too sure how how affordable it will be. We can now get into national parks for free and we will be grocery shopping. Ian starting the planning and research phase. If you can givemeany tips, I would appreciate it. I suspect as you say. It would be cheaper to spend two weeks in Europe. Especially Hungary
Well I mean, if we had the time to drive and also owned a camper, that would be one thing. But we feel lucky to even have two weeks together to go to Spain. I’d need a month (or more) to do a cross country trip. Assuming I had to return of course. 😉
I’ve been to Joshua Tree National Park. It was a day trip during a vacation to San Diego and Palm Springs.
I’ve been to the Grand Canyon. That was also a day trip during a vacation to Scottsdale, AZ. (So glad we went our first day in AZ because with the time zone difference we were up early and it is a four hour drive each way.)
But other than that the national parks I’ve been to are East Coast historical sites – Independence Hall, etc.
It’s the retirement trip, and I am allowing two months for it because in reality we have to come home and make money because we can’t blow the entire 401 k in the first year and SSI isn’t that much a month. It’s Randy’s dream trip.
That sounds like a fantastic retirement trip. Perhaps you could find somewhere to settle along the way. You know–like a pioneer?
Retirement pioneer. It could be a blog. Or a book. Or a reality show. That’d pay some bills, no?
We’ve done 29 national parks, and will do 2 more in February/march in Hawaii. Typically we fly on points, or on the cheapest swa flat we can get to a national park (or parks) of choice. For Yellowstone/grand Teton it was salt lake. We drove to Idaho falls, stayed at the Hampton inn ($0 – points), the. On to ynp. We stayed 2 nights at mammoth in the hotel and 2 nights at old faithful also in the lodge and 3 nights at the Hampton inn in Jackson. Wy ($0, points). The nights in the ynp hotels were abt $150/night. We ate in the lodge restaurants, which are priced comparable to Disney table service. No cafeteria here. We also ate in yelp recommended locations in Jackson. Flew home from salt lake. Rental SUV was $450+gas.
Plane tickets $22 (2*$11 security fee)
Car $450
Hotel $600
Food $125/day ($30/$40/$55) * 8= $1,000 (this was max budget. We came in under this)
Gas $100
Total – $2,072.
It can be cheaper if don’t stay in the park, many don’t have lodges, so. We stay near in Hampton inns,, etc on points. I shop rentals up till the day we leave. I’ve gotten suvs for $250 for a week.
Oh my god. I am making you my official national parks travel planner. That’s impressive!!!!
I’ve been to a few parks, including Yellowstone, but so long ago I don’t remember it. I was on the Big Island of Hawaii on a cruise ship stop when it was a free day at all national parks so we rented a car and went to Volcano National Park. Cost of car rental was around $40 plus only used about $10 in gas.
Why not go even further south in Spain to the Costa Del Sol? Torremolinos. Read James Michener’s book The Drifters. They spent a lot of time in the south of Spain.
Well yes, the car rental was only $40 and the gas was $10, but I don’t want to think about the cost of the flight or the cruise. Ha! Also I’m jealous of your Hawaii cruise. I’d love to do one…some day.
As for Spain, we looked at the Costa Del Sol and were not super sold on it for this trip. We assume we will be back, and perhaps then we can do a beach vacation. I see Spain as a country we will return to time and time again.
If you do Olympic National Park you should include the San Juan Islands!
I actually got to see a tiny corner of Olympic two years ago while in the area, and on that same trip did a San Juan Islands cruise…thing. It was easily the best trip I’ve ever taken, which I explain here (not sure if I can link within a comment, but let’s try it.) http://www.suitcasescholar.com/2015/05/18/what-is-an-un-cruise-adventure/
As soon as you mentioned where you are from, I was jealous. You live in paradise.
My favorite island was Sucia Island. I’m kind of annoyed with past-me in that I didn’t write about it. Perhaps I wanted to keep it a secret for myself?